Administrator

Welly Diecasting was founded in 1979 in Hong Kong. Initial production was in the general 3 inch scale. 1:38 scale was added next and currently they produce items under 40 different liscenses in 1:10, 1:18, 1:24, 1:32, 1:34-1:39, 1:43, 1:60-1:64, & 1:87 scales. Production castings includes ATVs, buses, cars, forklifts, motorcycles, planes, race cars, trucks and skips. Items are available in both free wheeling and pull back versions. Current production also includes a Q (type) Series of vehicles.

In the 1980s, the "Super Wheels" series appeared in the USA with a lline up of cars and truck vehicles. The Welly logo appeared on some blistercards, but not consistently. Most of the castings used were previously issued by Tomica and were still being offered by Welly in 2005. For most of their history the only identification on the casting base was made in Hong Kong and then later China. Aim for the Best Stores, a distribution company our of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma marketed them.

Their castings also appeared in the late 1980s as Soma's "Super Wheel" and JRI's Road Champs "Road Machines". The applied graphics were inherited from Universal (?). EFS a distributor base in San Francisco is credited with distributing 'WT' prefixed castings said to have been made by Welly as well.

In the 1980s, East West Distributing Co used Welly castings in their "Speed Wheels" series distributed at Walgreens Pharmacies. Elmar also distributed Welly made castings labeled as Agglo "Tiny Mites" during this time frame. Bedford, based in Hong Kong, also exported diecast trucks, sports cars and Grand Prix racers made by Welly.

Based in Montreal, Quebec, Liberty Home Products Corp distributed early Welly castings in the Canadian market. Another Canadian distributor, called Hudson's Bay and based in WInnepeg, Mantoba, marketed a series of Welly made castings on "WOW" branded cards with the tag line "Tough Ready Action Toys". These castings resemble previously offered Tomica models.

Another example are the Play Power Ltd distributed themed sets at Kmart stores in the early 1990s. Initial sets were the "911 Emergency", "Road Grippers" and "Super Chrome Special" (5) packs. All are thouht to be Welly made castings. In the early 2000s, they distributed "Racing Rebels" consistent with Wellys improved detail and casting quality. These castings also included dragsters and funny cars of an unknown maker.

In the late 1990s, Toy Island Manufacturing Co Ltd, distributed a licensed series of World Wrestling Federation (WWF) decorated cars. They issued (5) pack sets using Welly castings as their 2nd offering. Instead of tampos, these castings used decals of different wrestlers relevant to the era. Later castings were labeled as 'Welly' and also as 'Copyright 1999' 'Titan Sports Inc' and 'Toy Island Mfg'.

In the early 2000s, casting quality and details vastly improved and a marketing as toys changed to focus more on the collectors market. The Welly name was cast into the base along with a series #. Their "City Team" series was available in individual packages and gift sets. Their "Fast Wheels" series was distributed by Excite.

Models could be found in friction pull back and free wheeling 1:60 scales. Either in window box or in bluk open displays.

Ja-Ru marketed their "Real Wheels" series to various outlets using Welly made and other known and unknown brand castings. Previoulsy they had marketed Welly made castings in their "Pick ups" series.

Majorette markets their "Motor City" line with Welly made castings identified as Majorette.

Welly castings were also used by Hartoy, along with Corgi castings to market a series of diecast promotionals under license with Hershey Chocolate, Domino's Pizza and Coca Cola.

In the early 2000s (?), EJ Enterprisies was issuing Welly pull back type cars on a shrink wrapped retro styled black and white packaging. Welly castings were also being distributed by Target Stores in Australia during this same tiem frame.

In 2003, Fuji Film used a Welly Mustang GT model as part of their promotional campaign this year. Various colored models were availalbe with a film purchase.

In 2003, Katz Pharmacy Services based in Canada, also distributed "Prime Zone Toys Diecast Collectibles" using Welly made castings.

Recently availablility in the USA was sparse, but new castings in window boxes were found last year at Walmarts as "Nex" 1:60 scale.

My primary information resources are first the postings made by members here at HobbyTalk. Next The Encyclopedia of Small-Scale Diecast Motor Vehicle Manufacturers by Sahakangas, Weber and Foster (2006). And of course information found at the Welly listing in Wikipedia as of this post edit date https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welly_(toy_company) Information was also reviewed at the companies current web site - Welly Die Casting Factory Limited.

Administrator

Today, I ran through all the other brand and distributor associations from the The Diecast Encyclopedia for Welly. As usual, I learned a couple of things new to me, relearned a few things that were never quit clear - as they should have been - and a few things that have been miscarried as fact over time.

I wasnt able to though find any reference to NRMA. Anyone heard of them? (I have found some typos in the Encyclopedia listings - so it could be something else?)

Administrator

Welly is one of those "generic, no name, made in China" makers who put out a good many tolerably decent models early on, including a good many copies of Tomica and other models. Not sure when they started, probably sometime mid-1980s, and they are still making models for sale as I write this. At least some of the Walgreen's inhouse line "Speed Wheels" were filled with Welly models, and German promo maker Grell has also used some Welly models. More recent models have improved substantially and Welly now has some nice models available in 1/64ish scale that compare very well with other budget brands. Welly also produces a line of Russian / East European models sold under I believe it translates as Auto Time...I can stand correction on that, I don't read Cyrillic.

Some Welly models were available in the Speed Wheels line, at least series X

In regards to Tomica 'copies' remember that Tomica has a history of retiring castings on a periodic bases. Which may have allowed Welly to purchase or other wise obtain the actual molds directly from Tomica. It would be interesting to see a list of which Welly models were also previously released by Tomica for individual casting to casting comparison.

The Series X Speed Wheels line reference seems to be a continuation of the Walgreens in house line of Speed Wheels. This line started out as an East West Distributing offering with Universal castings being used before changing over to Welly. More recently they have been using Maisto made castings.